Airport Advisory Board Regular

Airport Advisory Board Monday, January 26, 2026, at 5:30 PM MINUTES City Commission Chambers, 214 Sams Avenue, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168 1. CALL TO ORDER Having been duly advertised as required by law, the regular meeting of the Airport Advisory Board of the City of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, was held on Monday, January 26, 2026, at the City Commission Chambers, 214 Sams Avenue, New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168. Chair James Dempsey called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. Present: Chair James Dempsey, Member Tim Caudill, Member David Maib, Member Celeste Lester Absent: Vice Chair Rulon Starley Also present were Airport Director- Arvin Weese, and Airport Coordinator- Teresa Merck. 2. PRESENTATION- Motion to move Deputy Fire Chief Dan Harshberger’s Presentation to the Presentation section from the Safety section on the Agenda. Member Lester made the motion and Member Caudill seconded the motion and the motion carried. Deputy Fire Chief Dan Harshberger presented an overview of the fire department and how they operate in conjunction with the airport. Communications training recently took place between the tower and the Communications Center. They made changes to the radios and the tower. They try to do training annually about how they are contacting Central in regard to emergencies. Station 53 is right there on airport property 24/7 in proximity to the side gate which provides quick access.

Chief said we have had several incidents, and the response has been very quick. Surrounding stations include Port Orange and County Stations 23 and 21 that can reply quickly as well. The truck they have is a standard engine. A specific type of foam was added to the specs for the truck that is stationed by the airport that is typically not added. Also discussed was the old crash-fire non-operational style truck at the station. It will be moved shortly as it is beyond the capabilities of fixing. Chair Dempsey discussed the conference call they had prior to today. He referenced the reason for the call being that a plane was on the ground for 7 minutes after declaring an emergency landing with a fire in the cockpit and the ability for the tower to use the equipment with confidence. What is being done to make the training a continuing activity to provide new personnel with the same training. Chair Dempsey said there needs to be a formal process for training for new hires. Chief said they have a task book with a checklist of items that must be completed. Chair Dempsey said the training should not be the responsibility of the Tower personnel and there needs to be a formal process. Chief said he has no problem with that, and it would be easy. Member Caudill suggested a video for new hires and suggested that new ATC hires should contact Fire for hands on training and a refresher for the rest of the staff. Chief said it’s one thing to watch a video and it’s another to being comfortable with a handheld radio. Chair Dempsey would like an action plan for Fire, Airport staff and the tower to confirm that this is being done annually. 3. PUBLIC INPUT (THREE MINUTE LIMIT) Cynthia Rhatigan, Tara Trails neighborhood- Cindy said she has been coming here for 20 years for airport noise and pollution issues. She understands that the Airport Advisory Board is here to advise the airport and the businesses within the airport and that this is not a City Commission meeting. She explained that we used to have good progress with noise abatement policies being put in place but since the second noise study review, all of that has gone out the window and now most of those “policies” have been ignored. It’s like being in a living hell, like you’re in WWIII and you’re just waiting for the bombs to drop and there is no relief and it’s a tremendous amount of stress. She is asking for a round table discussion for people that are most impacted and what they feel may bring some relief and compromise. Cindy stated that the issue is that it’s a constant impact on her home, her sanctuary. It’s constant and painful. Cindy said she doesn’t think it should be ignored any more. Chair Dempsey said her time was up and thanked her for her comments.

4. CONSENT AGENDA 4.A Consider the approval of the Airport Advisory Board Regular meeting minutes from October 27th, 2025. Member Caudill motioned to approve the minutes, and Member Lester seconded the motion and the motion carried. 5. AIRPORT NOISE 5.A Airport Noise Discussion and Review Airport Director Arvin Weese discussed the Touch and Go data. There was an outage via a website we use for data so data from November and December is missing. The website is LiveATC.com. We offered to assist in the future with the devices that capture data. The feed is currently back up. The Airport has offered in the future to set up the antennas that capture the data. The equipment would be provided. There is minimal cost involved. We can take steps to have a backup system in place in the future. We just need the bandwidth and space to set it up. Inlet Shores Flyovers- part of our VNAP and they are at the lowest they have been for this time of year. The numbers spiked in June due to Runway 11/29 being used since 7/25 was closed. Overall, there have been good solid efforts to keep these to a minimum. Chair Dempsey asked how Inlet Shores became the “litmus test” for these flyovers. This was in place before Director Weese came on board. There are no other communities in the VNAP. It is one of the few that can possibly be avoided because it is not directly under the flight pattern nor at the end of a runway. All other neighborhoods are receiving greater numbers, but they are in the direct path of the planes and are mostly unavoidable due to the tower using safety measures. Calm Wind Runway Test will be in place for the month of February based on a noise study/suggestion that was done last year. With ATC and the users, the test will be Runways 7 and 11 if the winds are less than 5 knots. These are voluntary tests and safety will take precedence. We will report back at the next meeting on this test. If all goes well and there are no safety issues, we will publish data with the FAA and in the Chart Supplement. Most Airports have a Calm Wind Runway. We are one of the few that do not. We are going to test it and see what happens. Chair Dempsey asked about the recommendations the AAB put together after the surveys/community/meeting info was presented to the City Commission and what came of that. The Calm Wind Runway Test was one of those. No clear direction was provided to get this item back on the agenda. Follow up will be to see the results from the Calm Wind Runway and possibly move forward.

6. SAFETY EVENTS- We had annual training and orientation on the Airfield with every member of the fire department within the past couple months. 7. NEW BUSINESS- None 8. OLD BUSINESS- None 9. AIRPORT MANAGERS’ COMMENTS Director Weese thanked Chair Dempsey and the board for the past year of service. The Airports mission continues to be to modernize and upgrade our facilities, and safety will always be the utmost priority. Runway Use Review- Challenges the airport faces with the funding of Runway 2/20. Compared operation counts from 2024 to 2025 on all Runways. What we see are very similar numbers for Oct-Dec year 2024 (19%) over 2025 (23%) for 2/20 usage. To secure funding for the rehab of Runway 2/20, we must demonstrate that the project is necessary and justify the safety aspects of the Runway. It requires a Justification Study that needs to be included in a Master Plan which takes about 18 months to complete. Our City Finance team did a deep dive into our funds, and we have more than enough to do a Runway study at $120,000.00. We went back to one of our consultants and asked for a more definite dollar amount and they said they can do it for approximately $50,000. It’s not getting any better. We need a Board recommendation, a letter justifying the need from Airport Director, and City Manager approval if the project is under $50,000. This is not guaranteed if the justification comes back and says we don’t meet the threshold. Member Caudill said it’s a no-brainer with those numbers. Having a runway with those percentages changes traffic and doesn’t put the burden on everybody else. Member Caudill made a motion to move forward, and Member Lester seconded the motion and the Motion carried. Exhibit A Property Map- This project has been in the works for the past year and we received approval on it. This is a federal obligation and requirement for any FAA sponsors. It shows the boundaries and history of each parcel. We did a complete boundary study survey. Any time you do any kind of land use change you need to have this document. This is the most complete document the Airport has probably ever had. The boundaries of the parcels are now a clear and complete inventory of all the land. The prior Master Plan did not include this. This answers some questions and opens the door to other questions: What are our obligations? Example: Rocco Park.

Economic Development- CRA funded project- intent to increase interest in Executive level pad ready hangars via Geotech surveying. Administration Building – Groundbreaking date- February 12th at 1:30 PM CIP Projects- Taxiway Bravo- flaking paint issues- centerline markings- viscosity was a little thick- they came out- removed old markings and reapplied and it looks good. Runway 11/29- Re-Striping completed today. T-Hangar E- going out to bid- 60 days’ notice will be provided to tenants to remove their aircraft temporarily while we improve the roof and some corrosion. Septic to Sewer- for the tower so they can have proper sewer instead of septic. Airport Perimeter fencing- design review meeting- focus is on areas most heavily impacted with coyotes Airport Entrance feasibility study- Intersection at Inlet Shores and US1 funded by CRA. Discussions with FDOT- they are open to the idea of putting some kind of intersection there and changing the airport entrance. There will be a future public meeting advertised. Wildlife Management- USDA has mitigated 5 coyotes since October. Most recent bird strike- September 29th , 2025- Black-bellied Plover. We continue to send a sample to the Smithsonian, so we are tracking the types of bird strikes we are having. Social Media- Tenant Highlight- George Baker Aviation, Inc. New Staff- Assistant Airport Director- Chris Styles- starts February 2nd , 2026. 10.AAB MEMBERS’ COMMENTS Member Lester has boxes of information at home on the airport because it’s her passion. She is going to bring it in case we need to use it. Member Caudill stated from a pilot and a citizen’s perspective, Runway 2/20 isn’t just good for pilots but it’s very good for the community. Pilots avoid using it due to its current condition and 2/20 would be a great Runway to use if improved. It could help provide assistance to the community by moving traffic flow away from some neighborhoods. We can’t eliminate traffic over houses, but we can divert it and use other opportunities so at least the flow is different. Member Caudill empathized with Director Weese in the capacity of an Airport Director; there is only so much that can be done. Chair Dempsey inquired about our Intern status- the Airport had had someone for a few months; the amount of time to train someone for the voluntary position wasn’t an ideal situation with our minimal staff capacity. The Airport learned the process and how to go about it within the city for the future.

11. NEXT MEETING DATE- April 27th , 2026, at 5:30 PM Airport Coordinator Teresa Merck approached the topic of the terms of the Airport Advisory Board Members and those members whose terms will be ending on September 09, 2026. These will be addressed at the July 27th , 2026, meeting to include- Chair Dempsey, Member Caudill and Member Maib. Member Maib volunteered that he will be resigning from his position. Chair Dempsey is undecided currently. Chair Dempsey said we have some turnover coming and he is expecting the city to be doing their due diligence and coming up with qualified candidates. He also suggested inviting those interested to come sit in at some meetings, so we don’t lose all our members at once. 12.ADJOURNMENT As there is no further business to discuss, this meeting was adjourned at 6:31 PM.